The Buildings of Hinckley

Buildings that start with the letter D

The Danilo

The DANILO 1936 Built on the site of a former hosiery factory in 1936 to designs by E. S. Roberts, a prolific cinema architect in the Birmingham area. G. E. and W. Wincott of Nuneaton were the contractors for the building. The Danilo was one of a chain owned by Mortimer Dent, including those at Brierley Hill, Redditch, Cannock, Longbridge, Stoke-on-Trent and Stourbridge. The cinema had 1250 seats, two dressing rooms and a smallish stage, and was the last super-cinema to be built in Hinckley. In 1970 it was re-opened as the Essoldo, and in 1972 was bought by Classic Cinemas and so renamed again. In August 1973 it re-opened as a three-screen cinema, later becoming the Cannon, which in turn closed in May 1993, the last functioning cinema in the town. It was subsequently a sports club (c.1999) and is now disused.

Davenport Terrace

DAVENPORT TERRACE 1889 Behind London Road, facing on to Queen's Park (below). Davenport Terrace, originally consisting of just seven dwellings, was amongst the first group of houses built by Hinckley Co-operative Society (founded 1862) and was named after its secretary, James Davenport. The Davenports are one of the oldest established manufacturing families in Hinckley, Davenport Knitwear PLC still having a factory on John Street. This is probably the earliest surviving row of terraced houses in the town.

Derby Avenue

DERBY AVENUE Continuation of Derby Road to the junction of Ashby Road, Factory Road and Middlefield Lane. The photograph of about 1910, below, shows, to the left, the Weavers Arms - still in business although now mock-Tudor in aspect - and, to the right, the gateway to The Limes with, beyond, Highfield House just visible through the trees.

Derby Road

DERBY ROAD - Runs from the junction of New Buildings (formerly Grimms Lane), Holliers Walk and Leicester Road, to the junction of Middlefield Lane, Ashby Road and Upper Bond Street. The upper part was formerly designated Derby Avenue (see above). See also JOHN STREET.

Derby Road, about 1910, with Leicester Road to the right and the entrance to Holliers Walk - at this period restricted to pedestrians - further on to the left. The handsome early Victorian house in the foreground has long been demolished.

The Dog & Gun

The DOG & GUN 28 The Borough. Appears in trades directories from 1835. Three bays, three storeys, with central Palladian window to upper storey. Still in business. See David J. & Jenny Knight in the Hinckley Historian, 32 (autumn 1993). Still in business. Below: The Dog and Gun, about 1930.

Dolphin

DOLPHIN Appeared in Pigot's 1822-3 Directory as situated in Leicester Road and, in later trades directories until 1850, as in Mill Street (now Victoria Street) off Derby Road.

The Drill Hall

Druid Street: Domestic

DRUID STREET: DOMESTIC In 1873 the Local Board was asked to approve plans for a number of new houses being erected on Druid Street (Leicester Journal, 7 Feb 1873).

Druid Street: Industrial

DRUID STREET: INDUSTRIAL This street was constructed in the late 1880s in response to the rapid expansion of hosiery manufacturing in the town. Many of the surrounding streets of modest terraced houses, built to house the factory hands, date from the same period. Here can still be found 'numerous factories built during the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century. A number of businesses are no longer in existence and factory buildings have been used by various manufacturers over the years. For instance, the factory adjoining Neale's Yard and extending from Upper Bond Street to Druid Street has been under the ownership of Orril, Jackson and Brocklehurst (1894); Brocklehurst and Tomlin (1900); and in more recent times Ghia Hosiery. Also of note is Puffer's factory "'Unique Works" (E. & J. W. Bennett)…' (Hinckley Hosiery Heritage Trail). (For some of these factories see under UPPER BOND STREET: INDUSTRIAL.)

Above: Advertisement, about 1940

Moore and Osbourne's factory front of 1930-32 (below, left to right) was the work of the Leicester practice of Symington, Prince & Pike. 'At the corner of Druid Street and Albert Road a brick factory with a jazzy 1930's centrepiece' (Pevsner, The Buildings of England, 178). 'The Art Deco style of the building, originally Moore and Osborne's on the corner of Druid Street and Albert Road (recently Smallshaws and now undergoing conversion) provides an interesting comparison with the more functional designs of other factories on the street' (Hinckley Hosiery Trail). It is a striking example of the period (with fine internal fittings to match) and, although the factory itself has been pulled down, this fine building is to be preserved as the frontispiece of a new housing development (2003-04) .

Above, left to right: Offices, Moore and Osborne's hosiery works, 1930-32. Below: Stocking seamers at work there, early 1930s.

Amongst the remaining factory buildings, the former Sunbro hosiery factory, on the corner of Druid Street and Spencer Street - originally G. Lord and Company, now Graphic House - has recently been converted into thirteen business units. This has been achieved with help from English Heritage on condition that the conversion was undertaken in keeping with the building's original purpose.

Above, from top left, clockwise: The Sunbro factory before restoration; an original advertisement for the company; the street front and rear of the premises after conversion.

In the early 1930s Atkins Brothers extended their manufacturing premises here at the Stockwell Head end of Druid Street, to the rear of their large factory on Lower Bond Street:

'Plans now went ahead with the Architects, Messrs. Goddard, Symington & Pike, with the idea of building a new and completely up-to-date factory to house fully fashioned hose machines on the Druid Street side. I seem to remember some difficulty over the occupant of a small cottage in Druid Street which held up this big scheme for some time. Finally it was decided to go ahead with a two-storey building to house this modern plant of fully fashioned machines and the contract went to W. Moss & Son of Coalville; and what wonderful rooms they were, and in fact still are today, but of course not making fully fashioned stockings! The building was completed in under six months of wintry weather!' (Atkins of Hinckley 1722-1972 (1972)).

'The ancillary industries are well represented by the small 19th century factory at No.66...(parallel with Bond Street) which bears the legend 'Needle and Sinker Manufacturer' (Pevsner, The Buildings of England, p.178). The latter is the old Laban Tansey hosiery needle factory,which appears in the trades directories from 1891.

Above: Further examples of historic hosiery factories in Druid Street.

Druid Street Mission Room 1887

DRUID STREET MISSION ROOM 1887. In February 1887 a meeting was convened to discuss the building of a new mission room for the Upper Bond Street district, to take the place of an existing building in Bond Street. The cost was estimated at £150-200, the site having been given by Mr. Joseph Farmer, churchwarden of St. Mary's (Hinckley News, 26 Feb 1887). The Church Room or Mission Room was opened in December of the same year, with a frontage to the street of 34'. 'The walls are of red brick, with Bath stone sills to openings. The buildings contain a lobby and a porch 9' x 7' and the size of the room is 30' x 17'. There is also a washhouse or small room 7' square, containing copper etc. The room is lighted by a 3-light window at each end, glazed with Hartley's quarry rolled plate slates and the roof is of timber, covered with felt and slates. The bricklayer's work was by Messrs Greaves and Farmer; the carpenter's work by Mr Thomas Bassett, the contractor; and the plumbing, painting etc by Mr A. Varnon. Plans by Mr Josias Wells, architect, of Hinckley' (Hinckley News, 10 December 1887). The room was enlarged in 1894.

The Duke of Rutland Inn

The DUKE OF RUTLAND INN Lower Bond Street. Appears in the trades directories from 1822. Still in business.

'Public house, perhaps 18th century but might incorporate older fabric, altered 19th/20th century. Brick, rendered and colour-washed, with Welsh slate roof. Three storeys and two bays. Central door flanked by late 19th or early 20th century canted bays with cornices on brackets. On upper floors are 20th century casements, those on first floor in older openings with H type lintels. Left return shows set-back at second-floor level, perhaps marking top of incorporated party wall with demolished building to south. Eaves at rear are at a lower level than at front, suggesting late 18th or early 19th century heightening. Long rear wing at skew angle, with 18th century brickwork, heightened in 19th century; end wall 20th century.' (Peter F. Ryder, Hinckley... Historic Buildings Appraisal (2000))